Call to Chieftainship
by Cindy England
Summary: The birthright of a new chief arises out of the dust. WORK IN PROGRESS.
1. Part 1

Call to Chieftainship

Title: Call to Chieftainship  
Author: Cindy England  
Disclaimers: Characters presented within are property of [Rushwater Holt][1]. ElfQuest is copyright [Warp Graphics Inc.][2]. 

**NOTE:** This fanfic is only a first, extremely rough draft and has yet to be edited in any manner as of yet. As such, it is a work in progress so please bear in mind that it is unpolished and will change. Also, please leave comments and suggestions as I may take then into consideration for the final drafts. 

"You can't be serious," Stormhawk stared incredulously at her chieftain lifemate. "Go to the plains in the middle of a searing drought!" 

"We have no choice," Snakethrower sighed. He knew the idea sounded mad but the tribe was in desperate need of food. "The river by the holt is all but a trickle, you know that as well as I, and the game has left for greener pastures." 

"And you think the empty plains will be any better?" Stormhawk retorted. "There's more water here than there!" 

Snakethrower shook his head. "Not water - shagback. Even a single, scrawny beast would do the pack and us well; especially you, my love," he almost pleaded with her, caressing her now-swollen belly which showed the promise of a cub to be born. 

Stormhawk, however, wouldn't give in. No matter her lifemate's reasoning, she could not bring herself to give him the approval he seemed to be seeking. "Do what you must," she stated flatly before leaving to visit Dewhaze about her shrinking leathers. 

Snakethrower sighed a second time as he watched Stormhawk's back disappear beyond sight. He absent-mindedly stroked his beard while thinking back to the time when he had decided to settle the tribe here at Forbidden Grove Holt. The irony of the amount of rain they had suffered through then bit at him, leaving a sour taste in his mouth. Shaking his head so as to clear his thoughts, he began packing the supplies they would need and send for the Hunt. Shagback; all they would need was a shagback or two… 

Later that evening the wolf pack assembled as wolves and riders prepared for the journey out to the plains. Waterskins had been filled as much as possible yet were still slack. Several large hides had been assembled for makeshift tents should the expedition take a few days. Well-wishers hugged the hunters and Snakethrower was saddened to see Stormhawk was noticeably absent. 

"High Ones keep and guide us. When we return, it shall be with shagback meat for all!" Snakethrower exclaimed heartedly before signaling their departure.

   [1]: http://www.rushwaterholt.com
   [2]: http://www.elfquest.com



	2. Part 2

Call to Chieftainship

Even in the cool of the night, the heat from the ground across the plains was insufferable. The burnt grass crackled underfoot, brittle and sharp like miniature daggers. High above the sky seemed heavy and to the tiny forest-dwellers there was an eerie feeling as if it would collapse upon them. 

Snakethrower shifted uneasily on Steepmane's back. Eyeing the thickening clouds he wondered if they would be granted a respite of rain. At this point he would gladly welcome sitting out in a downpour, tent less and soaked to the bone. His visions of rain were quickly dispelled as Twin Blades returned with the scouting report. 

"We found them," he said without needing to hear Snakethrower's question. "A small herd, just as we had hoped. They seem pretty worn from the drought and are lying down for the night. We should be able to take one or two down easy." 

Snakethrower nodded. As Hunt Leader, he trusted Twin Blade's judgment and the Hunt's ability to do the task. 

"Good, show me where," he replied. 

Soon it was settled. The Hunt was broken into two groups to flank the herd while Snakethrower, Twin Blades and Spearcatcher would corral and maneuver the beasts as needed. The wolves yipped in anticipation and a murmur of thunder rippled across the blackened sky. 

Twin Blades looked out over the pack of elves and wolves. Glancing sidelong at his chief, he nodded for them to move out, first lowly and then soon at a full run as they approached the resting herd. 

"Break!" he yelled last minute as wolves and riders suddenly split around the panicking shagbacks. He raced to the front of the herd to join Snakethrower and Spearcatcher in driving the huge beasts forward while the others harried and attacked their next meal. 

The shagbacks lowed in terror, flinging their sharp horns on thick necks as the elves passed and circled them, barely managing to keep control of the beasts' movement. Twin Blades drew in a sharp breath as he narrowly avoided the kicking hooves of one animal, his vigilant wolf-friend veering away in the nick of time. 

Then suddenly the spirit of the Mad One overtook the frightened beasts as a thick bolt of skyfire flashed down to the right of the herd. The air filled with the smell of singed grass and the brawling of the four eights of shagback which as one broke loose of the Wolfriders' control and stampeded heedlessly. 

Twin Blades gripped his mount's fur so tight his knuckles pulsed white as he fought to ride clear of the terror that now filled the plains. The Hunt Leader whipped his head around frantically, checking for the safety of his escaping tribesmates. They were behind the herd, having barely managed to escape the turning of the beasts in mid-hunt. Spearcatcher circled towards them and Snakethrower - 

Frantic eyes searched the darkness and quickly fell upon Snakethrower racing desperately on a tiring Steepmane, dead in the shagbacks' path. 

"NO!" Twin Blades screamed, drowned out by a second clap of thunder and flash of skyfire. 

In an instant the rushing herd, a sea of dust flinging hooves, gouging horns and mottled fur, washed the figure away. The tribe was stunned. No one moved. It was too unreal. How had this happened? The skyfire, the panic. 

At long last Twin Blades urged forward as all eyes stared at him. In the distance he could see a shape lying in the dwindling dust. Snakethrower. Such a grizzly sight Twin Blades had only seen once or twice before. His stomach twisted and retched. Sadly, he returned to his companions to confirm what they already knew.


	3. Part 3

Call to Chieftainship

"There was no other choice, we needed food!" the Hunt Leader yelled defensively. 

"And did you return with food?" Stormhawk eyed him coolly, her voice level. 

"No," he replied, his eyes downcast. 

"My lifemate, your chief, is dead from a shagback stampede; a hunt I never approved of from the beginning," Stormhawk growled. "Do not presume I will allow this to go unchallenged." 

"Yes," Dewhaze spoke up, "Who will lead us now?" 

"I will," Stormhawk suddenly announced. Gasps of fellow tribesmates circled her as Twin Blades stammered before her. 

"You! But I am Hunt Leader! It is my right, my duty, to lead the tribe when the chief falls without an heir!" 

"True, tradition says-" began Snowlight, the elder. 

"To the humans' cook fires with tradition!" Stormhawk interrupted. "Snakethrower proclaimed himself chief when we split from the Mad One, no Hunt Leader took the title. Besides," she added, tapping her belly, "he holds an heir to the chief's knot here." 

Twin Blades scoffed. "Snakethrower took the chieftainship because neither Bravestride nor anyone else would. I, however, am quite willing and able to lead the tribe. And as for this heir you refer to, how is an unborn cub to lead us?" 

Stormhawk readily accepted the challenge, stepping in close to the Hunt Leader and poking him sharply in the chest. "This unborn cub already has more chieftainship than all the turns of your life!" 

Twin Blades' fist reflexively struck out, cracking into Stormhawk's jaw. She fell back, collapsing into the dry grass as a stunned tribe watched on in disbelief. A growl growing from the back of her throat, she lunged back at the Hunt Leader, snarling like the she-wolf she was. 

Spearcatcher and Dewhaze jumped in, pulling apart the two challengers. "Stop it, both of you! Only the cub will suffer from this!" Dewhaze pleaded, a still-struggling Stormhawk in her arms. 

"Fine. Twin Blades, you want to challenge me? Then do it in a match of wills." She opened her mind, focusing on her opponent. 

Twin Blades staggered back momentarily from the blow of Stormhawk's sending. Then he too quickly locked minds with her, channeling his will and desire into her with as much forces as he could muster. 

Stormhawk shuddered, she was losing ground, and she could feel it. Her heart ached with the new sorrow of her dear lifemate's death and the angry terms they had left on. Her unborn son would never know his sire. Tears began to form in her eyes as her body started to crumble under Twin Blades' powerful sending. 

Her cub. What would she do if Twin Blades won and exiled her from the tribe for challenging him? Surely he wouldn't be that cruel… 

Then she felt it, a strange well of strength calling out to her, faint at first but growing steadily stronger as she reached its source. She grasped at the upsurge of strength and desire, combing it into her lock send with Twin Blades. 

Now it was the other elf's turn to shudder and crumble beneath the force of the challenge. He faltered, trying to place the source of her newfound strength. Through sweating brows he stared at Stormhawk, holding her swollen stomach. Suddenly he snapped close his mind to her, lifting and turning his throat in submission. 

"If he has that same passion and strength when he's born, I'll proudly call him chief." The Hunt Leader turned and walked away, leaving his fellow tribesmates slack jawed and wondering. 

"Well, I guess that ends it," Snowlight said, not wasting a heartbeat as she made her way up to the still kneeling Stormhawk. She pulled out the lacings of one of the arms of her shirt and bound the younger elf's hair up into the age-old topknot. 

"Let it be said that she who is now Chieftess leads for the right of her son and that he is marked with favour by the High Ones to have won this challenge today. Upon his birth he will be named Surewolf," the elder proclaimed.


End file.
